• Listen

  What it means

  “You see a speck in your neighbour’s eye, but you don’t notice the beam in your own.” A call to self-reflection before judging others — we are quick to spot small faults in others while blind to our own large ones.

  English equivalent

  The pot calling the kettle black.

  Vocabulary

  • źdźbło — blade of grass, speck, mote
  • oko — eye
  • bliźni — neighbour, fellow man
  • belka — beam, plank
  • dostrzegać — to notice, to perceive

  Grammar note

  'W oku' and 'w swoim' use the locative case. 'Bliźniego' is the genitive of 'bliźni'. The contrast is marked by 'a' (but/while).

  Cultural context

  Derived from the Gospel of Matthew (7:3–5), widely known in Polish Catholic culture.

  Advanced

Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!